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LUV Touches Down at SxSW

Every year in March, the center of the music, film, and online interactive industries across the globe converge in Austin, Texas for ten days of networking, discovery, creativity, and some old-fashioned good times!

This year, Southwest Airlines was proud to be the Official Domestic Airline of South By Southwest. What started as small music event with 700 registrants in 1987 has now grown to more than 32,000 participants taking part in music, film, and high-tech interactive conferences and events. Our fun Southwest brand was front and center with a Team of Employees participating and hosting several events including the BMI & Billboard Acoustic Brunch and The Fader Fort, a four-day musical event filled with musicians from across the globe.

SXSW 2012 was a far cry from my first SXSW experience. Back in 1994, a certain clueless radio DJ volunteered to work the doors at several of the music venues, handing out wristbands and doing other rather unglamorous chores. The flip side was I got to see an undiscovered Beck perform and actually got to shake the hand of one of my idols, Johnny Cash, who was the keynote speaker that year. That’s the power of SXSW. And this year proved to be no different.

Southwest’s brand, along with our legendary Customer Service were consistent themes with the SXSW partners we worked with the attendees with whom we crossed paths. The streets of the state capital of Texas are just now getting back to normal, but the effects of this year’s partnership with SXSW will be felt for many months to come.

Featured Picture: Southwest Airlines’ Laurel Moffat (second from the left) and Whitney Eichinger (far right) pause for a photo with The Lumineers at the BMI & Billboard Brunch. (Photo: Erika Goldring)